4.22.2015

Shinji Higuchi on the attempted revival of Godzilla

"The thought of this resurrection has my chest pounding. Almost three
decades have passed since I snuck into this film industry, and had no
idea what would transpire before me, because I was so idealistic. The
difference between my first, carefree world of amateur filmmaking,
compared to the reality of the ups and downs of the industry, I feel as
though I’ve been a hero running for 30 years. But, at last, the time has
come! I’ve come to see those reckless heroes of my high school and college
days hit mid-life. It all seems like a dream, but now I must come back
to reality. There’s no more room for idle talk. “What you really want to
do, what you really need to do, what you should never do, what you may
not be able to do,” are the thoughts that’ve fought in my head, and held
me back.It’s a veritable championship over one’s own mind. What now, then?
Playtime is over. Nevertheless, with my best friend standing beside me,
we will triumph over the pressure that would otherwise make me run far
away. I was born in this country which gave life to this great divinity
[Godzilla], which destined me to work in visual effects, up until this
very moment. I give unending thanks to Fate for this opportunity; so
next year, I’ll give you the greatest worst nightmare."

It's been a long time coming, and more than a little overdue, but Higuchi is finally tackling the king. And the stakes couldn't be any higher. This is, you understand, an enormous amount of pressure. No one person should ever have to deal with this kind of responsibility, and yet, it has happened before, and it has been exceeded before.

Now, technically Higuchi isn't doing this alone, he's got his best friend by his side, but that's of little consolation. This Hideaki Anno individual has no history in the medium, and gained all his reputation from the notorious Evangelion series which is, in a word, awful, which spread like a wildfire throughout the world of impressionable youths in what might be called "neo-hipsterism" if "hipsterism" ever actually meant anything to begin with. Anno released a similar statement, in which he detailed how he started falling to pieces after working on the same thing for so long, becoming disillusioned, tired, and self-loathing. It also mentions how he took solace in the fact the power rangers are STILL around, as they will presumably always be, which is something I can easily relate to, although their distribution (and adaptation, of course) in my country is a bit of a rocky, curious thing.

More than anything, though, Anno is clearly doing this to break a rut, and do something truly important, while Higuchi is doing this because... well, because it's just up to him. That's just how things worked out.

Acceptance of such a huge task has to come with the acknowledgement of what failure would mean. While it seems as though Higuchi (and Anno) aren't exactly in a mindset for losing, there's still a bigger picture here. They aren't just battling themselves, this is the entire hollywood-google complex we're talking about here. Of COURSE the next Godzilla will be great, but that's not the issue, the real problem is that ultimately... nothing we as people do matters anymore.

Even if there's another Biollante or Hedorah, let's face it, there's probably no coming back from this. The things that are important to human beings, passion, love, happiness, fulfillment, expression, communication, etc., none of this matters to hollywood. All they care about is money, all they have is money, and the more "people" they control, the less the actions of men will make any difference at all. If the original Godzilla came out tomorrow, nothing would change.

This is the point I made back in May, and coming up on a year later, through a roller coaster of denial, hatred, depression, apathy, hatred again, more hatred, all-consuming destructive hatred, and back again, I'm realizing that no matter how I've tried to spin it, no matter how I've tried to justify my continued existence, I really nailed it back then.

...it doesn't seem like a year. Time slips away from me faster and faster all the time, and I can't even tell when one day ends and the next week begins anymore. I sure as hell don't know what day it is either, and I haven't for a long time. Probably years, I don't know.

It will make me happy again to see Higuchi succeed, but the damage is done. Probably not too little, but definitely too late. I would love to be proven wrong, though. Toho's dangerous gambit was naive at the least, suicidal at worst.

The best we can hope for is for a few earnest artists with genuine love and respect for something bigger than them can keep the legend alive for just a little longer. Godzilla is supposed to bury me, not the other way around.

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